Former employee suing Waltham, Watertown restaurant for overtime pay

A former employee is suing a restaurant with locations in Waltham and Watertown, alleging that he wasn't paid overtime for 17 years, but the defense calls the suit groundless and frivolous.

By Eli Shermanesherman@wickedlocal.com

A former employee is suing a restaurant with locations in Waltham and Watertown, alleging that he wasn’t paid overtime for 17 years, but the defense calls the suit groundless and frivolous.

The suit, brought by former Demos Restaurant employee Rafael Brooks, accuses ownership of not paying Brooks any overtime between 1996 and October 2013. Brooks claims he worked at Demos Restaurant, with locations in Waltham and Watertown, six days a week for 10 hours a day, but was never paid overtime at one and a half times his regular rate.

“He was treated just like everyone else and everyone else who works here will corroborate that,” Delegas said.

Demos Restaurant opened in Watertown in 1971 and expanded to Waltham in 1996, according to its website. It specializes in homemade Greek and American cuisine.

Brooks’ attorney Michael Bace, of Bace Law Group LLC, is also accusing the restaurant of following a trend.

“We also allege that the restaurant ownership has a policy of not paying workers their overtime pay that is common to all their employees,” Bace said in a statement.

Bace claims Demos misclassified Brooks as an independent contractor, paid him in cash, and his rate did not increase despite Brooks working more than 50 hours a week.

Defense attorney John Tocci, of Tocci, Goss & Lee, PC, said that the practice of former employees bringing suits against former employers happens often.

“Every year in Massachusetts, there are between four and five thousand claims made against employers,” Tocci said. “The vast majority are groundless and we believe that this one is not just groundless, but also frivolous.”

Tocci said his office would be filing a response to the allegations in the next couple weeks.